This article was guest written by Phil Steventon, an autistic aspiring lawyer, content creator, writer, speaker, and workplace neuroinclusion associate. As part of Autism Acceptance Month, we've partnered with Phil to help provide you with the below tips and advice:

Event organisation is difficult for anyone, including law societies and graduate recruitment teams. You want to make sure that everyone attending is catered for as much as possible with regards to time and monetary costs.

But this may come at the risk of some simple accessibility adjustments that can benefit autistic aspiring lawyers who want to attend networking events and get the most out of the legal community as this early stage.

So here are some points for graduate recruitment teams and university law societies to think about when creating neuroinclusive legal networking events.

When planning the event:

1. Training and awareness

The first thing organising teams should do before planning an autism-inclusive event is to learn more about autistic experiences through training and awareness sessions and webinars, and from involving autistic students and aspiring lawyers in the organisation stage. Doing so will give you more knowledge and awareness as to why an event should be set up in this way and why the accessibility adjustments are so important to make the event autism-inclusive.

2. Event size

Depending on what you want the event to be and how big you want it to be, you will need to think about the size of the venue, how many rooms you will need, and how easy it will be for everyone to move around the building.

3. Location

Attendees will be travelling by car and by public transport, so be sure that the venue has ample parking for attendees driving in and that it is an easy distance from train stations and bus stops.

4. Signposting

If the venue has multiple floors and offices, then make sure you allow for plenty of signposts or people in the building to signpost attendees to the correct floor and office space. This is especially important because, since we process information differently to our non-autistic peers and friends, we may not have a good directional sense.

Before the event:

1. Provide information

At this stage, it is important to provide as much information about the event as possible. This can include:

• Start and end times
• An agenda if multiple things are going on during the event
• Photos of the venue
• A map of how to get to the venue
• The names of any speakers or organisers who will be there
• Food and drinks choices for the event, including that there will be alcoholic and soft drinks
• Explicit permission that attendees are free to move around the event rooms, use the bathroom facilities, and go outside

Because structure and routine are important to us in an unpredictable and hostile world, this will help alleviate anxiety of the unknown for us and will mean we can get more out of the event. Further, being very clear on what we are allowed to do during the event, including using bathrooms and taking breaks, means that we won’t feel like we’re being burdensome in asking to do these kinds of things.

2. Event management app?

I’ve been to events where the organiser has used an event management app called Whova. This has contained pretty much all of the above information and is easily accessible via a mobile app. There is also a forum for attendees to use to say hello, break the ice, and leave feedback after the event. It might be worth looking into this as a way of managing your event.

3. Signposting on the day

Also, it is important that signposts and people signposting are placed in key spots in the venue building so it is clear that they are guiding the attendees correctly. These key spots might be:

• The building entrance
• The lobby
• The lift area
• Outside the lift area on the correct floor
• The front door of the event room in the building

Having information on them such as the event name, the organiser’s branding and livery, arrows pointing in the correct direction of travel, and a floor number and office unit number will mean we have a better idea of where we are going and will alleviate anxiety on the day.

During the event:

1. Name badges:

Many of us can struggle with our working memory. At networking events, this can present as not remembering names or what we might have discussed half an hour or so later. Name badges will help us not have to worry about remembering one small piece of information and allow us to “free up brain space” for other things during the event.

2. Breakout rooms:

Having a quiet room away from the main event room will give us a chance to take a break, decompress and regulate if we need to. For a lot of us, being at networking events means a lot of “masking”, which means hiding or concealing parts of ourselves so as to present as “non-autistic” and fit into a neurotypical world that has historically been very hostile and unwelcoming of us. Since masking is exhausting, we need that chance to step away to take a break and decompress.

3. Allow stim toys and sensory aids:

Another thing that helps us feel at ease is our stim toys and sensory aids. To make events like this accessible and welcoming to autistic students and aspiring lawyers, be sure to encourage attendees to use whatever they need in order to feel comfortable and at ease during the event. By specifically mentioning stim toys and sensory aids, that gives us explicit permission to bring them with us and use them if we need to.

Conclusion

It is important to remember that whilst these points about will go a way to making events more accessible for autistic aspiring lawyers, everyone can benefit from these measures no matter who they are. Clear directions to the event location, name badges, clear information at the early stage, quiet spaces and taking breaks, I don’t think anyone will be disappointed by any of this!

The return on the effort being put in at the start will be seen by everyone during the event, and will present in any feedback you receive after the event.

Looking to learn more about what autistic or neurodivergent aspiring lawyers face when attending networking or career events? Check our Phil's article where he shares his experiences.

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